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Capital Gain
Pub demand is strong in NSW’s regions but there’s one watering hole in the idyllic coastal town of Narooma that hospitality king Justin Hemmes hasn’t got his hands on.
Instead, well-known operator Rod “Ned” Kelly has snapped up the Narooma Hotel on the Sapphire Coast for close to $15 million in a deal overseen by HTL Property’s Blake Edwards. Rod’s Kelly & Co Hotels, also owns Kelly’s Irish Pub in Mudgee, in central west NSW.
His new venue sits close to Hemmes’ Merivale-owed pubs in the seaside hamlet: Lynch’s, The Inlet and Quarterdeck.
Further north, Dan Whitten, who put his Robin Hood Hotel in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs on the market in 2023 for $60 million, is now selling his Tamworth Hotel in New England, NSW. It generates about $115,000 a week in revenue and sits on a 3219-square-metre site in central Tamworth, directly opposite the train station.
Whitten and business partner Luke Prout bought the pub in 2016 for an undisclosed sum.
The pair sold the Gunnedah hotel, about 40 minutes from Tamworth, in 2022 for $8.5 million to Sydney-based pub heir Peter De Angelis, the nephew of billionaire pub tycoon Arthur Laundy.
JLL Hotels’ Greg Jeloudev, Kate MacDonald and Edward Browne are managing the Tamworth sale campaign.
In another deal, the Tumbulgum Tavern in northern NSW has settled, with the business and the pub selling for $7 million to Glenn Piper’s Epochal Hotels group.
It was sold by publican Demi Harrison, whose parents bought the venue following an impromptu Sunday drive in 2014 but are now retiring. Established in 1887 as the Metropolitan Hotel, “The Tumby” is the oldest surviving hotel in the Tweed region.
The deal was brokered by Travis Rayner of Ray White Commercial Burleigh Group.
More pub barons
Beer barn landlord Bruce Solomon is about to kick off some major upgrades for his western Sydney hotels.
Solomon’s Sonnel Hospitality, now run by Simon Meers whose father was a former lord mayor of Sydney, has moved a step closer to redeveloping the Crossroads Hotel in Casula and the Ermington Hotel after gaining development approvals.
Sonnel purchased the Crossroads in 2022 for $150 million, with the deal at the time setting a record for the sector. The group’s most recent purchase was the Firehouse hotel in North Sydney, bought for $35 million in April last year.
Some funds for the massive upgrades will come from selling the Bridgeview pub in Willoughby, a popular former watering hole for Nine Entertainment staffers who for years worked nearby. HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe, Dan Dragicevich and Sam Handy are handling the Bridgeview sale for Solotel.
Plans for the Crossroads show it will get 40 short-stay rooms, a function and community event space, expanded indoor and outdoor family-friendly hospitality areas, upgraded food, beverage and public spaces, and a kids play area.
Meers said the approvals demonstrated the group’s “commitment to long-term investment and community-led development in western Sydney.”
“These DA approvals are a critical step forward in delivering the plans we outlined early in 2025. Crossroads and Ermington are important local venues, and these redevelopments allow us to elevate them into true community destinations that reflect the scale, diversity and growth of western Sydney,” he said.
Groundwork
Popular eatery The Grounds of Alexandria has expanded its footprint with a strategic long-term lease in the tightly held Alexandria precinct in Sydney.
It intends to transform a 1022-square-metre warehouse and office into a bakery, retail and production area under a long-term lease covering units 1 & 2, 4 Huntley Street. The off-market deal was negotiated by Colliers’ Billy Marsh on behalf of a government landlord. The tenancy will start in early 2026.
Woollahra restaurant
A tightly held freehold restaurant in the heart of upmarket Woollahra’s Moncur Street village is for sale for the first time in four decades.
The two-level freehold property at 49–51 Moncur Street is being sold by a private local family. It’s on a 200-square-metre landholding with a 308-square-metre building in one of Sydney’s most affluent and supply constrained markets.
Colliers agents Paul Grasso and Charles Raine are managing the campaign.
Over the bridge in equally upmarket Cremorne, Sydney residential developer Helm’s head office at 133 Holt Avenue is on the market with interest expected from $3.6 million.
The office is part of the recently completed Eleve Cremorne development and includes 253 square metres of ground-floor space, and 11 secure undercover car parks in a mixed-use zone. Helm recently signed a new five-year lease with three further five-year options.
The property is for sale through RWC Sydney North’s Scott Stephens and Logan Grisaffe.
Contact carolynannecummins@gmail.com.
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